Velvet Eden

[DarkxAngelxRayne]

Okay, the uploader of that 'Paraph' PV FINALLY e-mailed me back, here is his response when I asked him about that alleged 2003 interview that DADA did:

Hello, i said the same email you sent me so I think the message has not arrived, about the interview I found it in a post on this
site: http://new-rocks.com/. the post led for the interview link in a
Japanese site, but I think this post has been deleted because the PV Paraph
it contained was excluded from you tube, as already a long time since that
post was created could not find again interview. Sorry.

So we may be out of luck.

 

[DarkxAngelxRayne]

If anyone's interested, I put up my transcriptions and English translation of the lyrics to the VELVET EDEN song 果樹園 [Kajuen], which I'm fairly certain no one has ever done before (this is an older song from 2001) and put them on my site. I was going to post them here too, but it may have been a lengthy post and so opted for a more subtle link instead:

VELVET EDEN - 果樹園 [Kajuen] (Lyrics)

 

[flowersofnight]

From today's arrivals: here's a scan with pictures from November 1998 - before Dada had burned his bridges with the entirety of humanity
Velvet Eden played at this live (and did some fencing), and Dada also participated in a unit with Ya-su from GRASS and Ao from cali+gari.

http://www.prideofmind.com/data/jag2-p14.jpg

 

[Madmoiselle_Silk]

thanks! those pictures look really cool. From which magazine are they from?
edit: love that the bottom bands vocalist's name is gaku

 

[flowersofnight]

From JAG, volume 2, 1/1999
Was this actually Velvet Eden's first-ever live?

 

[faith]

It's been a while...but I think their first live was Halloween 1998

 

[Wandering_Fox]

Velvet Eden played at this live (and did some fencing), and Dada also participated in a unit with Ya-su from GRASS and Ao from cali+gari.

That would have been a very interesting unit to see... I like how they have 3 vocalists who don't sound anything like each other here, unlike Node of Scherzo

I also really like GRASS. I have a couple of their CDs, but I'm really interested in hearing the demo tapes because there are versions of å°½ã￾￾ã￾›ã￾¬é¡˜ã￾„ that aren't the pepper edit. I also think it's really interesting that the band has a bunch of the D≒SIRE guys (one of them also from Klein Kaiser) and GRASS sounds exactly like none of these bands at all.

 

[flowersofnight]

I like how they have 3 vocalists who don't sound anything like each other here

Although apparently 2 of them only danced

 

[Wandering_Fox]

Although apparently 2 of them only danced

So basically the inspiration for the 2010 era of Velvet Eden?

 

[DarkxAngelxRayne]

It's been a while.

Well, the alleged last VELVET EDEN release, REQUIEM, is finally able to be pre-ordered. Though I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed because DADA was hyping it up as if it was going to be a final full-length album and instead it's just an EP with five songs (three of which he'd already released as demos on YouTube previously). And as usual, he uploaded the other two new songs on YouTube as well:

Requiem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYSFQpYlqY

Eraser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qsX5A-6otA

But the songs are all pretty good, so I'll still enjoy it, nonetheless. I really like 'Requiem,' especially since DADA's referring to it as the final VELVET EDEN song. It has a melancholy sound to it (well, actually, most of the songs on the CD do). Which is fitting, if this is the actual end of VELVET EDEN. It seems as if it may actually be

It's nice that it comes with a DVD though, with three videos on it. A bit more than the last EP release.

Also, I'm really excited because apparently someone sent KALM two master CDs of the 'madame tarantula' and 'Street of ALICE' demo tapes, which he no longer possessed due to his computer breaking down with the master files on it! He posted a picture on his Facebook. What's funny is that KALM and I were literally just discussing those very two demo tapes a couple weeks ago and I was seeing if there was a possibility of him having them mastered. So I'm very appreciative of the person who sent them to him.

 

[flowersofnight]

Well, the alleged last VELVET EDEN release

The boy who cried wolf

Also, I'm really excited because apparently someone sent KALM two master CDs of the 'madame tarantula' and 'Street of ALICE' demo tapes

Yeah, I assume y'all had no luck with those 20-year-old tape rips XD

 

[DarkxAngelxRayne]

I know, DADA has a penchant for that, doesn't he? He's definitely acting as if it might really be over this time, but I wouldn't be shocked if it wasn't.

And sadly, no, KALM and I weren't able to do much in the way mastering those old demo tapes. We'll see what happens with these discs though. I've always preferred those demo versions to the album versions, which is why I've wanted to hear them in better quality.

 

[faith]

Actually dada's succeeded in pissing me off with this "last cd Velvet Eden is OVER" nonsense.
Years ago he sent ME a friend request and I accepted.
Then all he's ever contacted me about is to promote that ripoff clothing line and his cd.
does he even know who I am??
...who I am being someone who's negatively affected by advertising.

It's really friggin annoying. I hope VE really is over this time and Shuva starts back up again.

 

[Madmoiselle_Silk]

does he even know who I am??
...who I am being someone who's negatively affected by advertising.

yeah that's weird, he sent me a link to Requiem too...did he do that with all his 5000 friends on FB? (lots of free time lately?)

The only song I truly prefer ont he demos are Street of ALice, I think the distorted vocals fit the song better. I can't chose which Girl Fiend I prefer though... but Sad Mask and La Fin in better on the CD I think. I really hope he'll do something with Silk though! That's one of my all time favorite VE songs and probably songs written ever XD so I'd love to hear that in better quality.

 

[DarkxAngelxRayne]

Actually dada's succeeded in pissing me off with this "last cd Velvet Eden is OVER" nonsense.
Years ago he sent ME a friend request and I accepted.
Then all he's ever contacted me about is to promote that ripoff clothing line and his cd.
does he even know who I am??
...who I am being someone who's negatively affected by advertising.

Yeah, DADA has been doing a bit of overkill with that...

yeah that's weird, he sent me a link to Requiem too...did he do that with all his 5000 friends on FB?

Hmm...I didn't get anything like that. He's never actually sent me anything related to promotion. Actually, now that I think about it, whenever we do talk, it's almost never in regard to VELVET EDEN.

Really? I think all eight of those demo versions are so much better than the more clean/streamlined album versions. I've noticed that both DADA/KALM must have felt the same way since the PV for LA FIN is actually the demo version's music and whenever they performed live, it was always the demo versions as well. Perhaps the album versions hadn't been recorded by that time, I'm not sure, but I did notice that.

I always thought that the demo version of 'Street of Alice' actually was the only one of the eight that sounded almost the same as the album version. And the demo version of 'GIRL FIEND' is my ABSOLUTE favorite VELVET EDEN song of all time, it's so powerful, the vocal layering is impressive and when KALM joins in at the end, it's just...indescribable to me. I really love a lot of the effects they used in the demo versions that weren't present in the album versions. It made for more of a darker edge to the songs. 'SILK' is very impressive as well, you're right. I thought it was DADA who repeats the 'I lost my mind...' phrase throughout the song, but since it's also present in the 1997 KALMIA version, I believe it's KALM saying that. I'll have to ask him. And I've always loved 'madame tarantula' and haven't yet heard the 2012 version that DADA released on that demo CD. I want to so badly.

 

[Madmoiselle_Silk]

I think it sounds pretty much like Kalm who says "I lost my mind", and also like you said, since it's in the Kalmia version it has to be.
Those demo cd's are so rare despite being handed out recently... I remember asking Aci if they would sell me one when they did the first one, with the new version of Street of Alice and he said he'd ask Dada, then I never heard anything about it again XD

 

[DarkxAngelxRayne]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure DADA didn't record that single line for the KALMIA version, then two years later go back and record the whole song again with his own vocals. XD Though DADA has done crazier things, so maybe he did. It sounds like it's KALM though, so I'm certain it is as well.

I know, it's crazy how rare those demo CDs are. I believe they've all been uploaded though by either DADA or others except for that specific one. I'm very intrigued to know how different that version of the song is from the original demo. I wonder who has a copy of the 'madame tarantula' demo CD...I've never been able to run across anyone who does.

 

[sanctum]

Thanks to this thread I finally got around to listening to Velvet Eden! (I have no idea why I didn't listen to them years ago... I can only assume I thought they were a different band).

I'm finding their releases a bit hit-or-miss, the heavily distorted vocals on 人形娼館 put me off a bit but Street of Alice is great and I don't mind blanc et noir either.

Is there a summary of the drama so I can get up to speed?

 

[flowersofnight]

Is there a summary of the drama so I can get up to speed?

Dada is apparently a hugely toxic personality in real life and always gets into drama that sends Velvet Eden crashing down in flames
And by "drama" I mean, "any time some 14-year-old girl on Facebook disagrees with him" XD
He also notably did a tour in Russia and claimed he almost got killed by berserk racist Russian murder-hobos... no one else in the same room with him saw any such thing

I think Hora put it best: "I wanted to quit"

 

[Wandering_Fox]

You forgot the part where he blocked everybody from Canada from his FB

Musically, VE was a mixed bag. I thought Ningyou Shoukan was pretty amazing on all fronts, but the later stuff really hasn't been my thing. There were also no less than 4 separate times when Dada claimed he was going to break up Velvet Eden, which he is in the process of doing as we speak.

I like his music, but it was a lot more fun when all we had were the various articles and tidbits Faith found in magazines. He hasn't done anything in a long time that I would consider as great as Ningyou Shoukan or Street of Alice (maybe when he was Photoshopping Gackt onto yen?), but I think Fetus and Sea of Blood are pretty fantastic.